The purpose of this proposal is to develop a feasible and reproducible methodology for the capture and subsequent live maintenance in the laboratory of the loliginid squid Loligo pealei. Achievement of this goal requires the development of an atraumatic means of capture, definition of the physical and chemical environmental conditions for transport and laboratory maintenance, determination of optimum food requirements, and the capability of providing a continuous supply of the needed food materials. Loligo pealei is found in the Gulf of Mexico offshore from Galveston Island throughout all months of the year and they occur in sufficient number to be a source of adult animals for continuously restocking a laboratory colony. The Marine Biomedical Institute has an established closed-system, artificial seawater holding facility which can be expanded to accommodate the aquaria needed for squid. The Institute also maintains a research vessel, the Erin Leddy-Jones which is equipped for trawling, jigging, and other methods of squid capture. The waters of Galveston abound with shrimp, mysids, fishes and other marine organisms which we anticipate will satisfy the food requirements for immature and adult squid. The immediate benefit of the proposed work is the capability of supplying investigators in neurobiology with adult squid the year-round for giant axon preparations. Loligo pealei is the squid species most commonly used in the United States as a biological model for experimental studies in peripheral nerve function and membrane transport. In order to achieve the objective of the proposal we will need to expand considerably the little information that exists on the life history of Loligo pealei and other lologinid squid that occur in the Gulf of Mexico. This knowledge will be of immense value in the search for new biological models for squid giant axon research, for the future development of a squid fishery, and for the basic survey of pelagic cephalopod life for future monitoring of oil pollution problems in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico.